Stampin' Sisters in Christ # 125

It is my pleasure and honor to hostess this week's Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge. The following is what the Holy Spirit put on my heart. I hope it encourages you and blesses you.

I walked into the grocery store this week and saw all the heart balloons, and flowers, and heart shaped boxes of candy… all ready to be bought for Valentines’ Day. My thoughts went to all the people who won’t get anything for this day. Does that mean that they aren’t loved? I remember when I was in high school, and all of the girls with boyfriends got roses or candy delivered to their home room. I was one of those who didn’t get anything, and I remember feeling sad because no one “LOVED” me. I have a friend who went through a divorce and now she is a single mom, and I doubt if she will get anything this year. Will she feel like no one “LOVES” her? I also have a widowed friend, will she feel loved? Why do we feel like we need a gift to feel loved? I’ll be the first to admit that I feel this way sometimes. Do you know that someone loves you, and gave you a gift already? Not just any gift, but the best gift you could ever receive?

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he GAVE his one and only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Once you accept that gift, NOTHING is going to take that love away.

Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I have 2 videos that I think you will enjoy. I know I did!





My challenge for you this week is to make a card/project that shows love. It could be a heart or the word love, or even something that you love using on your cards/projects.
My extra - bonus challenge is: give your card to someone who might need to be reminded that they are LOVED.

For my card I used a big LOVE sentiment from a Mark's Finest Papers set callled Love Remains. I took a piece of white cardstock and stamped flowers using 2 different shades of green. Then I took that piece of cardstock and cut it down the middle. Half I left plain. The other half I ink-spray-smashed with blues and greens. (A technique that I LOVE, with the colors that I LOVE.) I sewed on my card (I LOVE sewing on my cards.) I stamped the poppies and did paper tole. (Flower set that I LOVE and another technique that I LOVE.) I finished my card off with 2 butterflies. (Anyone who has seen my cards for any length of time, knows that I LOVE butterflies.)

This will also make my bonus challenge because I am giving this to a friend that I want to remind about God's love and my love for her. She loves butterflies too!!

Close up of butterfly and poppies.

Our sponsor this week is Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Check them out.
Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created for your inspiration:

Kristine
Linda
Miesje
Peggysue
Traci

I made this card for the color combo challenge at SCS this week. Red, yellow and blue. I had so much fun doing the resist technique, I had to try it some more.

Butterfly garden

I tried my hand at another telescoping card. I made a veritable stamped garden for my butterfly to visit. I used several Mark's Finest Papers sets. I used: Just Dandy, Poppies poppies poppies, Greet the day with Gerber, Butterflies and wisteria, Black Eyed Susans for Encouragement. I love the photo of this little brown and orange butterfly that I took on Sunday. It was the inspiration for the butterfly on this card.

Mark's Finest Papers August blog hop day 1

Hello! Welcome to the August 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!



This week's new releases are:Black Eyed Susans for Encouragement, Butterflies and Wisteria, Forest Gifts, Fun on the Farm .For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.



So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Black Eyed Susans for Encouragement? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)



For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Black Eyed Susans for Encouragement. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's MFP blog post.



Lois

Vicky

Dawn

Anne

Peggysue

Connie

Linda

Karen

Patty

Roxie

Vicki

Liz

Geri

Lynn

Mark’s Finest Papers

There are just some sets that become favorites the minute you see them. This black eyed susan set is one of those sets. You can see from my examples how awesome it is. I know you are going to want this set too.

This last card combined the flowers from other "FAVORITE" sets. I made it for a co-worker's wedding card. I used these other Mark's Finest Papers sets: Just Dandy, Poppies,poppies, poppies, and my favorite butterfly from Daffodil and Anise. For this card. I used burnt glue for the centers of the poppies and I added glitter and ground up styrofoam for the dandylions, and the black eyed susans have several layers. The petals are cut out everyother one and curled. I placed piece of craft foam between the layers to add to the dimension.

Color block MOJO 200 cards

Great Spangled Fritillary- I think

The butterfly at the top of this post, was dead when it fluttered next to my daughter's feet. She was fueling her truck up at the gas station when she noticed it. She picked it up and brought it home to me. It is gorgeous with it's little spots of silver on the wing. Wow, what a wonderful creation that God made. I spent a lot of time looking at butterfly images trying to determine what kind of butterfly. I narrowed it down to a couple of choices and my son Joshua and I thought it most resembled the Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly. I really wish I knew an entemologist so I could know for sure. I made two cards using my Mark's Finest Papers butterfly from the set DAFFODIL AND ANISE. I tried to mimic the real thing. I really like how both of these cards turned out. The top card used SC339 sketch and the second one used MOJO197.

Happy Father's Day! I hope everyone has said... "I love you." and "Thank you." to their dads if they still have them around.

“You’ve got to see it to believe it.” Have you ever heard that expression? I have a story to share with you. When I was little I was blessed to live near my grandparents and my cousins. One day my sister, my brother and I were playing ball with our cousins in my grandparent’s big back yard. Our game got interrupted when the ball rolled near my grandparent’s Airstream trailer that they stored in their yard for when they went camping. My cousin Alissa touched the trailer as she was reaching for the ball. As soon as she did that, she got a shocking jolt. She jumped back and screamed “I’ve just been shocked!” We gathered around her and taunted “Did not!”, “Did too!” was her response. One by one we ALL had to touch that trailer and get shocked because we had to SEE FOR OURSELVES.

My daughters and I love watching crime tv shows, like CSI. (Probably because my dad is a forensic pathologist and my brother works as a tech in a crime lab.) In all these shows there is a common theme. The police have an idea who committed the crime, but it is their job to collect enough EVIDENCE that the jury will SEE and BELIEVE them.


The scripture I choose to share with you this week is:

Hebrews 11:1 Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things unseen. (KJV)


How do we get the kind of Faith that is so strong that it is our evidence? The Bible says in Romans 10:17 “So then Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” That is how it starts. We can read the Bible. We can then ask the Lord to help our Faith to grow. Like the apostles did (Luke 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our Faith.”) and like the father of the possessed child did ( Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do BELIEVE; help my unbelief.”)

My prayer is that God will strengthen your faith this week. My challenge for you is to make a card that shows the “EVIDENCE” that you were the creator by doodling on your card. Here are a few suggestions to get you started: dots, swirls, lines, and faux stitching… I look forward to seeing what you create.


I stamped Mark's Finest Papers- Poppies,poppies,poppies and did paper tole with Aleene's burnt glue for the centers. My doodling is very subtle. I doodled with a black pen around the edges of the lighter brown dp. I used my scalloped border punch along the blue panel and around the circle for the Stampin B's challenge to use a border punch.

Here is a close up on a piece of gray cardstock so that you could see what the doodle looks like. It is a dot with a line that I call the ER Life line machine. It is a straight line with a squiggle and a straight line. I really like this kind of doodle because you don't have to be exact. If your straight line isn't exactly straight that is ok and if the squiggle is different from the other squiggles that is ok too.

Our wonderful sponsor this week is Our Daily Bread Designs.

Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.

Chris

Grace

Kris

Linda

Lisa

Miesje

Pegggysue

Rebekka

Sabrina

Mark's Finest Papers June blog hop day 2

Hello! Welcome to the June 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are: All Aboard, Poppies Poppies Poppies, Sand Surf Relax, and Floating Along.

For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Poppies, Poppies, Poppies? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if the winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win POPPIES, POPPIES, POPPIES. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Lois
Dawn
Anne
Peggysue
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Lagene-Guest Designer for June
Mark’s Finest Papers



This is my card for the hop. It is another 6 fold card. I really like how it turned out.

This may just be one of my favorite stamps set of all times. I have already shown you some of these cards, but for the hop, I put them all in this one post so that you could see them all together.

MOJO194 Poppies Birthday Card

I made this birthday card using MOJO194 sketch. I made this for my friend Lindsey who has her sweet 16th birthday today. It uses Mark's Finest Papers set called Poppies, Poppies, Poppies. It is going to be released tomorrow. Check back tomorrow for June's blog hop.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge for 6-5-11

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:34-35

This is the scripture that Linda choose for this week.
The first thing I noticed about this passage was the word "commandment". Not just a good idea, not just a suggestion, not something you do if you feel like it... No it is a commandment. Something we MUST do. Especially if we are followers of Christ.
This isn't always easy. God places people in our lives that we just don't "FEEL" like loving. This was very evident to me this last week. Sunday night, a group of teenagers vandelized our house with toilet paper, chocolate syrup and peanut butter. It was such a mess. It was made even more serious with the fact that my daughter is extremely allergic to peanut butter. I can tell you that I didn't "FEEL" like loving them. I was angry and upset and I didn't "FEEL" like praying for them or forgiving them. I had to ask God to give me the strength to do it. Is there someone that you need to pray for, or forgive? You can ask God to give you strength through his holy spirit. He doesn't command us to do the impossible without giving us the strength to do it.


Matthew 19:26
And looking at them Jesus said to them, “ With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The challenge this week was to use something new on our cards. I used a new stamp set called Poppies, Poppies, Poppies. It will be released this week by Mark's Finest Papers. I hope you like the sneak peek at this set. I used an old technique in a NEW way on the center of the flowers. Many years ago Aleene used Aleene's tacky glue and burned it with a candle to make the glue bubble and harden like leather. Instead of using a candle, I used my heat gun. I put a drop of Aleene's tacky glue to the centers of my flowers and I heated it right away before it dried. The glue bubbles up and then goes back down and it gives a lot of texture.

CLOSE UP VIEW OF BURNT GLUE

Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.

Chris

Grace

Kris

Linda

Lisa

Miesje

Pegggysue

Rebekka

Sabrina